The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-05-20

ever, before a broadside from the vessels
crashed on the still air from the sea-
ward side; and / then had the pleasure
of ordering my still smiling command
toward to the attack. The rendezvous
of the freebooters was about little
landing at the foot of some low bluffs,
with irregular, broken ground in the
rear, nearly impenetrable by reason of
the thorn thickets and rugged hedges.
THE fire from our vessels soon
routed them out OF their position near
the landing place; and Immediately we
who were coming round in the rear be-
gan to get glimpses of the fugitives,
some of them carrying great bundles Of
goods.
"My fellows blazed away at these,
but they lodged, doubled and cut away
from us by paths in the chapparal that
we did not know of; and though we
pushed forward as vigorously as we
could, we only succeeded in capturing
one old fellow with a lame leg, who
also proved to be leper, having large,
scaly, white patches Of diseased tissue
over his entire body. Disdaining to
exhibit such miserable object as my
prisoner babe him go in peace.
Pushing forward we came upon
the crest of a bluff. There, near the
landing, yet out of sight from it, being
hidden from view on the water side by
another crag, we found the stronghold
of the pirates, from which they had
just run away. Here were several long,
low houses, where they lived, remote
and concealed from the world. There
were many boats, several of them new,
and great quantity of tishing-tackle.
as well as sabers, guns and four can
non. While recommending, one of my
men discovered dark hole at the base
of the crag. We looked in, and then,
to our surprise, found it to be the en-
trance to an immense cave, full of
plumber of all kinds, taken from YES
sells which the pirates had captured.
''Just as was entering the cavern,
very large black monkey jumped
down from a dark nook in the rocks,
and chattering his teeth angrily, dis
puted by advance. Determined to take
at least one reputable prisoner, l
seized him by the throat, and for a
few moments we had a prOdigiOus
struggle. The black brute was almost
as strong as a man. He bit me through
the arm, but I choked him into sub
mission. He surrendered and behaved
very well, offered no further resistance
while bound him with a bit of warp.
''On exploring the cave with torches,
we found large number of bales of
silks, satins and laces, together with
bundles and packages of less expensive
fabrics. There was one long tier of
saddles of fine workmanship, also har-
nesses and silver-mounted brides by
the dozen.
From the labels on several large cases
of cutlery. we concluded that some
English merchantmen must have fallen
recently into their hands. There was
property worth many thousand dollars
slowed away here, and this was but
one of three caves which our men dis
covered in the immediate vicinity, all
of which contained stores of stolen
treasure.
We were occupied for three or four
hours in transporting the most valua-
bic of the captured property on board
the vessels. The remainder of it, to-
gether with the houses and maritime
outfit, was then burned. 1t was near
night before our task was accomplished,
and altogether this had been the most
arduous and eventful day of our
cruise. IN. Il. Phillips, IN Youths
CO2,lDn72io77